Google clears up the Google Earth EULA – you can’t use free version at work
June 14, 2006 15 Comments
Stefan finds that Google cleaned up the Google Earth “Free” EULA. You can’t even use it at work for personal reasons. Yikes!
1. USE OF SOFTWARE The Software is made available to you for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use the Software or the geographical information made available for display using the Software, or any prints or screen outputs generated with the Software in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties.
So that leaves NASA World Wind and ESRI ArcGIS Explorer to fight over the “free” business market. I think we’ll be seeing a public beta of AGX really soon so this could be great news for ESRI. I’d better get uninstalling GE 4.0 beta from my laptop right away.
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I wonder what all the small (startup) developers will do when this issue gets better known. Is anyone of them paying $400 p.a. to Google to test KMLs? Maybe they are all smart enough to publish their developments without testing, or everyone is creating KMLs just for fun, without any business interest…
Don’t forget you also can’t do it at all the workplace. Sure you can create KML for fun, but just having the free version of Google Earth installed is a violation. I’d expect SketchUp to have the same constraints.
While the EULA in this BETA product does still have that message, I don’t believe this is the actual intent of Google. In fact, I think Google has made it pretty plain they encourage people to use any version of the Google Earth client, including the free version, in the work environment for personal use. On Monday they told people they view Google Earth to be a browser for geographic information – a Geobrowser. Something which would not be possible unless it was available to act like a browser does today. I am confident Google will modify the EULA to clarify the message.
Frank, it can’t be a geobrowser unless it is totally free like Firefox in a work environment. Limiting it to consumers is weak on their part.
I can’t believe that Google just *forgot* to remove that phrase in the EULA (actually they rewrote it for version 4)…
Frank, that’s what I don’t get from Google. On the one hand they encourage everyone to take advantage of Google Earth and create KMLs and on the other side they add such restrictions to it. It makes no sense, maybe there is something else in the pipe, (like the Google Maps Enterprise model maybe…).
Isn’t it the same as the ESRI webservice model? Use it all you want until you make it part of any commercial or business website. Play, test, and develop until you deploy. Once you deploy then you’re in a new category.
Keep in mind that the Google maps API notes include a request that if your website gets more than 500,000 hits a day, let them know so they can make accomodations. BUt I think it’s still free.
Note the text “for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties”. If you are looking for the closest Starbucks on your work machine so you can get a double, half non-fat, half half and half, half caff, have decaff, half vanilla pump, half almond pump, latte on your break you are not using GE for any commercial or business purpose.
ps. I love a forgotten comedians bit that was based on the premise that the more complicated your starbucks order is the bigger jerk you are
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This should be interesting for me… as I am dealing with USGS and NOAA data and now some of the stuff they have done in GE would be made null and void now.
Thanks for the heads up James. We spent only a little time on looking at adding Google functionality for our clients. I will uninstall and stick with ESRI for now.
I don’t mind paying for Google Earth – I have problems paying $400 for it.
I know the google-heads are smart, but I’d love to see their pricebreak charts showing that they can make more money selling 100,00 copies at $400 than 2 million copies at $99.
If you want data you can subscribe to GlobeExplorer. If you want a viewer you can use AGX and Worldwind.If you want full extensibility use Worldwind.
Google Maps
I hate one liners. Google issued a cease and desist to NASA for Worldwind using Google Maps data.
We can use it and Microsoft lets us use Virtual Earth data. Come on Google don’t be a data hog.
I’m still waiting to figure out what happens here:
Arc2Earth, ArcMap and Map Tiles
I know what World Wind went though, but it might be interesting to see if anything has changed…
Commerical and business. …..does that include non-profit and government I wonder? It doesn’t specifically include them it seems. Nor does it necessarily exclude them.